If Billy ends up at another D1.school I think it would be an advantage to take a redshirt year and hit the weight room hard to get stronger and quicker.
In today’s world, he might not be able to have that luxury. Coaches probably do not want to wait on a player to develop.
I heard Wally say on CBS today that he played at 210 as a freshman and was 245 as a Senior in pointing out how Duke’s freshmen were outmuscled by Tennessee today.
Good luck to all these guys who are leaving. The great thing about the portal is that it provides the opportunity for every player to find a situation where they can find a role and get signicant playing time. How high of a level is really not as important as finding a spot which fits your needs…choose wisely.
All the best to him. Hopefully his dad or whoever that was can take his vague, never-detailed rumor-posting elsewhere.
Is that who “Indyfan” was? Dude went out of his way to be annoying.
I might be in the minority here, but I was hoping Billy Smith would stay. I think he could have developed into a contributor off the bench, at the very least, similar to the role Kamari Williams played.
All the guys who left had merit.
I agree. I think Billy would’ve been much better served coming into a good Miami program with veteran leadership where he could sit for a year and work towards being a real contributor his Jr and Sr seasons. Essentially, like CBB used to work. Combine the new environment with Coach Steele desperately needing to increase the talent level across the roster and I understand why Billy leaving will benefit him and Miami.
Sorry to see Billy go…seemed like a solid prospect and good kid.
Needs to get stronger, quicker (as much as he can work on)…but bet he shows up as an opponent or in March Madness some day on some mid tier D1 school.
Hopefully Miami is there to see it…6-6 215 pound Caden Pierce had 16 rebs vs Mizzou…FDU and Kennesaw each had sub 5 win seasons within the last four years…come on Miami let’s get this going.
Go Tigers!
Not surprised in the least, especially after what Indyfan and Shooter were saying about him and inferring about others. I had high hopes for Smith early in the season but then he kind of faded away.
I am surprised though that there is not at least 1 or 2 more in the portal. We are a bad team in a bad league with a coach who’s not willing to put up with any semblance of mediocrity. That tends to push people away…which is fine (and needed) given the circumstances.
The only thing these kids are ever promised is an opportunity. What they do with it is up to them.
aba222…I don’t think this portalling for Miami is over. It’s amazing how many players are jumping in each day. St. Francis Brooklyn just had 6 announce.
St. Francis Brooklyn is apparently entirely shutting down intercollegiate athletics, FWIW.
With increasing student body apathy, surging costs, blatant free agency for cash, the creation of two super conferences, who knows… in ten years we might only have 60 colleges playing the equivalent of today’s major college athletics.
Interesting…2 of the top 11 players in the transfer portal went to La Lumiere.
Miami has recently discussed a budget deficit. Front page of the Miami Student 2/17/23 or thereabouts. Might Miami consider cutting a sport or two? We would have to start with a men’s sport, and frankly one that costs significant money to operate. I am not saying Miami should or is about to, but in light of what St. Francis College just did, cutting all 21 sports, one never knows. There is no arguing the facts that the number of students attending college is down, and therefore, revenue is down.
Possibly. It’s becoming painfully evident that the current business model isn’t working for mid-and low majors. Something significant is probably going to happen in the athletics departments of a number of schools to reign in expenses. The revenue stream arms race has already been lost to the schools in the two - possibly three - emerging super conferences. The NCAA’s dictates as to how many sports schools are required to maintain might need to be modified.
I tend to look at financial problems in life with the lens of “either you are watching the faucet or watching the drain.” Everyone is wired to do one or the other and for a number of reasons, one or the other isn’t right or wrong per se. The drain watcher does what St. Francis did and cuts all the sports. The faucet watcher finds a way to find a profit center to fund things when funds diminish or dry up. In this case, here’s an idea: At some point in the future, micro grids are going to replace the big PUC driven power grids from 100 years ago. Miami has 16,000 people walking its campus every day. Imagine putting rubber mats down that when stepped on generate an electric current that can be captured in a generator. Imagine offering free spin classes to campus that feature bikes tied to a generator so that the current generated coverts into electricity. Imagine putting rolling turbines on roads that do the same thing when car wheels turn them. This is all insane I know (on brand for me!) but if you take a step back you realize there are always ways to make money out there but most systems can’t adapt to do them because they are too set in their ways. Turning Miami into a power company is not an idea anyone is talking about but at some point in the future, some city or college will do this. Feel free to throw the tomatoes now. I’m wearing old clothes today as it’s raining buckets here.
What sport is the biggest financial drain, and which sport costs the most yet receives the smallest amount of national publicity?
I do applaud the of idea of solving renewable energy and fixing Miami sports at the same time. Both things are in my mind quite a bit.
Thinking out of the box: We could cede Hannon Park to the Miami Tribe and open a joint venture hotel and casino. Our official opening university statement now recognizes the campus as being located on indigenous lands. Very few can lose money on a casino.
thanks for the kind words. I am fascinated by how many hidden profit centers companies often have (and yes, in an odd way, I think of Miami as a company) they never seem to monetize. Sure, it can cost money, but if done well, you can change the profit trajectory for years to come. Put another way, I did a research project for a big tech company and they get 3 million hits a day on their corporate site. Up to me, I would carve out a small piece of that site and allow third parties (vetted of course) to advertise on it. The money they would make would pay for their yearly marketing spend as that’s a lot of qualified eyeballs. Anyhow, I think you either have ideas or excuses and I’m tired of excuses. It’s like that great quote in Shawshank: “either get busy living, or get busy dying.”